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Proven nuclear technology can help Indonesia meet its economic, energy and environmental goals,. according to Agneta Rising, Director General of World Nuclear Association, who was speaking at the opening of World Nuclear Spotlight Indonesia 2018.

The World Energy Outlook 2017 report, published today by the International Energy Agency, foresees a substantially expanded role for nuclear energy if the world is to meet the challenges of people’s development needs, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

Comments made by Agneta Rising, Director General of World Nuclear Association, at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ministerial Conference “Nuclear Power in the 21st Century”, being held in Abu Dhabi 30 October – 1 November.

Although peak generation from solar briefly exceeded generation from nuclear energy on 26 May 2017 in the UK, over the whole day nuclear generated considerably more low carbon electricity. Expanding nuclear offers greater potential for emissions savings.

Lloyds Register have today published their latest Technology Radar report, A Nuclear Perspective. The report concludes that nuclear power generation technologies are now cost competitive with fossil fuels and innovation is gathering pace.

Preparations are underway for the restart of the Sendai 1 reactor in Japan. Sendai 1 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) sited on the southwest coast of Kyushu, the third largest island of Japan. It is owned and operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Company.

World Nuclear News

Electricity prices in Ukraine are too low to enable the country's nuclear power plant operator to cover the cost of its fuel, its president and CEO said last week. In addition, the regulator's new methodology for calculating the cost of nuclear fuel purchases is restricted to new contracts.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission has identified areas for improvement in the operation and maintenance of Uzbekistan's only operating research reactor. The team also addressed specific operational challenges faced by the WWR-SM.

A Japanese court today rejected a lawsuit seeking to stop construction and subsequent operation of Japan Electric Power Development Corp's (J-Power's) Ohma nuclear power plant, being built in Aomori Prefecture.

Countries have made preparations for responding to nuclear and radiological emergencies, but too little has been done to prepare for the lifting of those emergencies, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It has now published a guide providing advice on the transition to a normal state following an emergency.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and the African Union Commission have signed their first practical arrangements for the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technologies for sustainable development in Africa.

Indonesia's National Atomic Energy Agency has launched a roadmap for developing a detailed engineering design for its Experimental Power Reactor. The design of the country's indigenous small modular reactor is expected to be finalised later this year.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has published a guide on how it can work with dutyholders to improve safety and security activity in the nuclear industry. The document, Holding to Account and Influencing Improvements - Enabling Regulation in Practice, features a number of case studies which place enabling regulation in the context of the legal and practical obligations on ONR and industry dutyholders.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a confirmatory order to Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc and Entergy Operations, Inc, documenting actions they have agreed to take to implement programmes designed to prevent wilful misconduct at their fleet of seven operating nuclear power plants.

First Light Fusion is investing GBP3.6 million (USD5.0 million) building what it says will be the only pulsed power machine of its scale in the world dedicated to researching fusion energy. The Oxford, England-based company said on 12 March it expects to commission the device - Machine 3 - by the end of this year.

Unit 3 of the Ohi nuclear power plant in Japan's Fukui Prefecture reached criticality this morning, operator Kansai Electric Power Company announced. The reactor - the sixth to be restarted after clearing the country's revised safety regulations - is expected to resume commercial operation early next month.

Terrestrial Energy of Canada has signed a contract for technical services with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Karlsruhe, Germany. Under the contract, JRC will perform confirmatory studies of the fuel and primary coolant salt mixture for Terrestrial's Integrated Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR).

Orano USA and Waste Control Specialists plan to form a joint venture to license a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for used nuclear fuel at the WCS site in Andrews County, Texas. The joint venture will request that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission resume its review of the CISF licence application WCS originally submitted two years ago.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently agreed to strengthen its collaboration with the International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC), a global network of young professionals working within the field of nuclear energy.

Anfield Energy Inc has agreed to acquire the Charlie in-situ leach uranium project in Wyoming from Cotter Corp, as part of a strategy to create a mine and mill production complex in the state. Meanwhile, Energy Fuels Inc is pursuing opportunities to process new and additional alternate feed sources in order to allow the USA's only operating conventional uranium mill to extend its current operating campaign.

Russia has opened its uranium mining industry to foreign investment with an agreement signed yesterday between the Russia-China Investment Fund for Regional Development, ARMZ Uranium Holding, and Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Union (PIMCU). ARMZ and PIMCU are subsidiaries of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

France's nuclear regulator has lifted the suspension of the serviceability certificate for one of the three steam generators installed at unit 2 of EDF's Fessenheim nuclear power plant. The certificate was suspended in July 2016 due to anomalies in the steel of the steam generator's lower shell.

Ontario's Bruce Power has partnered with the Council of the Great Lakes Region to conduct a three-year study of the impact of climate change on the region. The study will investigate the impacts on the region's ecosystems as well as corporate action to tackle climate change locally and regionally.

A collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and private company Commonwealth Fusion Systems is aiming for the rapid commercialisation of nuclear fusion energy, with support from Italian energy company Eni.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has agreed a settlement with French Areva and German Siemens in the long-running dispute over cost overruns and delays to the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project. TVO said yesterday that Areva-Siemens will pay compensation of EUR450 million (USD553.73 million).

An Industrial Way Forward Agreement signed on 10 March by the CEOs of EDF and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) sets out the industrial framework and planned timetable for the implementation of six EPR reactors at Jaitapur, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the partners.

The UK must be able to operate as an "independent and responsible nuclear state" as soon as it leaves the European Union in March 2019, the government has said in its response to a parliamentary report about the impact of Brexit on the country's nuclear industry.

On the same day the US Senate passed a bill to accelerate the development of advanced nuclear reactors, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy highlighted nuclear energy developments as the greatest achievements of the Trump administration to date in the area of energy dominance.

Russia has today connected unit 1 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant to the grid and it has started producing its first power, state nuclear corporation Rosatom has announced. The VVER 1200 reactor was brought to the minimum controllable power level on 6 February.

India is planning a tenfold increase in uranium production over the next 15 years, Minister of State Jitendra Singh told the country's parliament yesterday. State company Uranium Corporation of India Ltd has outlined expansion plans to meet the Department of Atomic Energy's vision of achieving self-sufficiency in uranium production.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is this week discussing the prospect of closer economic and political ties, including nuclear energy projects, in a number of African countries. Lavrov has so far visited Angola, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and will complete his trip to the region in Ethiopia tomorrow.

Russia's ASE Group has handed over unit 3 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province to the customer for a two-year warranty period of operation. The Russian-supplied VVER-1000 is scheduled to enter commercial operation later this year.

China will "steadily promote" the development of nuclear power this year, according to a plan released today by the country's National Energy Administration (NEA). The plan calls for five new nuclear power reactors to be brought online in 2018 and construction to be started on a further six to eight units.

Unit 1 of the Edwin I Hatch nuclear power plant in the US state of Georgia has begun operating with test accident-tolerant fuel assemblies. The fuel, loaded during a recent outage, is the first of its kind to be installed in a commercial nuclear reactor.

Affiliates of Entergy Corporation and NorthStar Group Services Inc have signed agreements with State of Vermont agencies and other parties on terms for the sale approval of the shut-down Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to NorthStar. The sale will enable the accelerated decommissioning of the single-unit boiling water reactor plant.

Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council yesterday approved a plan to restart unit 2 of the Kuosheng nuclear power plant, which has been offline since mid-2016. The final decision on whether the reactor can be restarted remains with the Legislative Yuan.

Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed to his board of governors yesterday. Amano said the plan represents a "significant gain" for nuclear verification.

Swiss utility Axpo has received regulatory approval to bring unit 1 of the Beznau nuclear power plant (KKB) back into service this month after evidence it submitted last December proved aluminium oxide inclusions in the reactor pressure vessel do not affect the unit's safety.

A "substantial" increase in the level of European Union funding for future Euratom research programmes is required if the EU is to maintain its share of nuclear electricity, according to Foratom, the European nuclear trade body.

Nuclear electricity generation capacity in the Middle East is expected to increase from 3.6 gigawatts this year to 14.1 GWe by 2028 thanks to new construction start-ups and recent agreements between Middle Eastern countries and nuclear vendors, the US Energy Information Administration said yesterday. The United Arab Emirates will lead near-term growth by installing 5.4 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2020, it said.

The co-owners of the Salem nuclear power plant in New Jersey have suspended funding for future capital projects at the site after legislation to recognise the attributes of nuclear power plants faced delays in the state Senate. Similar action may be taken at the Hope Creek power plant.

India and Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their cooperation in nuclear energy. The agreement was one of three MoUs signed during Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang's visit to India.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched the first regional training course in the Middle East on pressurised water reactors. In cooperation with the University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, the course took place between 19 and 23 February and brought together more than 20 participants from eight IAEA Member States at the university's College of Engineering.

A new process for the chemical decontamination of the reactor cooling system and subsystems in nuclear power plants has been developed by Germany's Siempelkamp NIS Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH. The procedure - which took four years to develop - has been successfully demonstrated in a German nuclear power plant.